History at Home: Mythology of Eclipses

Join Assistant Collections Manager, Mandy Askins for our History at Home series. These fun, online classes are about the history of astronomy and the Cincinnati Observatory. Best of all, you can take these from the comfort of your own home and will receive a copy of the recorded classes that you can watch again at your convenience.

Mythology of Eclipses: History, Science and Fiction covers a broad range of historical accounts and viewpoints of eclipses. From cultural views in ancient history and mythology, such as the Bakunawa, a serpent-like dragon in Philippine mythology that was thought to be the cause of natural phenomena like earthquakes, wind, rain and eclipses. Then to early historical accounts and documentation of eclipses, and eclipses in fiction, such as in Issac Asimov’s 1941 short story Nightfall where a planet usually covered in sunlight all the time, sees darkness befall them. Come learn the nuances and historical stories of eclipses with this engaging and intriguing presentation with Cincinnati Observatory’ s Assistant Collections Manager, Mandy Askins.